Over the past few years, Firm400 has had the opportunity to do coverages of the automotive sub-culture in Southern California. The popularity continues to increase and expand within every part of the Golden State as well as throughout the Southwestern Regions of the country. Its a FACT. Cars become part of your life. Whether if you believe that statement or not, many can honestly say they've had sentimental memories of a car they once owned in their lifetime. And at last year's SEMA Show, we met up with Richard Lane aka RJ, a passionate automotive enthusiast from Peoria, Arizona who shares with us his story of how a simple test drive of a Subaru WRX would forever change his outlook towards import cars.

An enthusiast of classic cars, it was Lane's decision to switch platforms for once and seek something that could work with his decking contracting business as well as his need for power within the Subaru line. That is where RJ came across the Baja, a vehicle line from Subaru that would best suit his needs for work and for play. A year later, the "Cruck" eventually turned into a build where Lane gained notoriety proving its performance on the track as well as displaying the vehicle during show season. And with WEKFEST | LA making its stop this weekend at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, the Subaru build was selected to be featured alongside with the many standout vehicle applicants who registered to showcase on Saturday. Let's read more about RJ's journey and the contents of his amazing 2004 Subaru Baja build.

"My name is Richard Lane, but I go by RJ. I have been a car enthusiast since I was in a stroller. It blossomed into a religion after getting a 1970 Olds 442 W-30 in high school. There was big group of us that all had classic cars and we would go to weekly meets and occasional trips to the drag strip. After getting back into the car scene in my mid 20’s I needed a new platform to work with, and I test drove a 2003 WRX. This test drive changed how I looked at import cars forever. I am the owner of a decking contracting company and needed a versatile vehicle that could haul stuff for work and I could not live any longer without a turbo. The only answer for that problem in 2004 was the Subaru Baja. The Baja was made from 2003 through 2006 and with a turbo in 2004. The whole reason the Baja got made was to use the full capabilities of Subaru’s plant in Indiana. The Baja shares most of its underpinnings with the 2000 to 2004 Legacy wagon. I bought the cruck (½ car ½ truck) new and managed to wait about a year before the mod bug got to me. I started with small bolt-ons and a tune. Stock it put down 175 whp and we got it to 225 whp with very minor mods. I started to take the Baja to the strip and found that no one knew what it was and were impressed with what she could do. I finally got the performance about equal to a stage 2 STi. On that set up I ran 13.7 @ 104mph and blew up the weak stock 5 speed. So after swapping in the 6 speed then I found out that the rings in the stock motor were not happy with the 150 or so passes down the drag strip. It was time to do a full engine build, at this point I decided to turn her into a show car that makes it to the track every once in a while. The new set up was designed for a road course and mountain driving, no more drag racing.

I need to thank so many people that helped me get the Baja to where it is today. All the guys at Goodspeed performance lab and a special nod to Joe. Clark Turner Tuning for all the time spent dialing in the Baja to perfection. Stereo Joe for the amazing custom installation and tuning my sound system. Rich Wrench Auto Worx for the late night customer service. Special nod to JDM Sport, Travis at Snail Performance, and Taylor at FAT. Car Street Journal and JDM Fresh for the sponsorships. My close friends Pratt, Dustin, Lark, Justin, Randall, and Javier for helping me achieve my dream of the Baja."